Polling has enjoyed widespread use over the years. It provides a way of acquiring individual opinions and can provide invaluable data on a variety of topics including political opinions, pop culture and fashion trends, scientific surveys, product design, etc. As media content distribution and processing technologies have advanced, increased numbers and types of media outlets have provided a variety of platforms that may be used by poll providers to distribute opinion polls to potential poll participants.
However, conventional polling suffers from a number of drawbacks. For example, conventional polling requires individuals to go to a specific location where a poll is being conducted, be it physical (e.g., a polling booth) or virtual (e.g., a webpage). This requirement sometimes poses some inconvenience for a user and hence can often reduce the number of poll responses acquired in the absence of any additional incentives or motivation for potential poll participants. In addition, disadvantages associated with conventional polling often delay the delivery of polling results to the poll provider or to the public. Accordingly, a number of disadvantages exist with respect to the delivery of, participation in, and reporting of results of conventional polls.